Mental illness continues to rise in the workplace

Mental illness is said to be a syndrome characteristic of our times. It is of a highly private nature, and companies are not too eager to publicize the related facts and figures.

In March of this year, the Japan Production Center for Socioeconomic Development conducted a questionnaire survey on companies' programs and initiatives pertaining to employees' mental health. The survey targeted officials in charge of personnel and labor affairs of all the companies listed in Section 1 of the Tokyo Stock Exchange (a total of 2,669 companies), and revealed the actual status of mental illness in Japanese corporations.

According to the survey, about half (48.9%) of the companies felt that the incidence of mental disease in corporate employees had been on the rise in the previous three years. The most common ailment was depression, cited by 72.3% of the companies surveyed. The share reached 84.6% in larger companies employing 3,000 employees or more, and the Japan Production Center for Socioeconomic Development points out that depression may be referred to today as a syndrome characteristic of employees working in large corporations.

The survey also showed that 58.5% of the companies had employees who took periods of one month or longer off because of mental illness, while companies with consulting facilities cited interpersonal relationships at the workplace (47.8%) and work-related problems (38.6%) to be the two issues on which their employees most frequently requested assistance.

The incidence of mental illness in companies may lead to work-related injuries or cause accidents. It naturally leads directly to reduced productivity. The present survey revealed that many companies carried out a variety of countermeasures, such as allotting work in a more appropriate manner. To prevent mental illness that continues to increase, however, it may be necessary to carry out more in-depth investigations and considerations from an even broader perspective, including what role the labor unions should play, what form companies and society in general should take, and how people's working styles should be configured.